In reference to "that's the way things are done," what does rule of thumb mean?

star_gazer

The earliest citation comes from Sir William Hope’s The Compleat Fencing-Master, second edition, 1692, page 157: "What he doth, he doth by rule of thumb, and not by art." The term is thought to originate with wood workers who used the length of their thumbs rather than rulers for measuring things, cementing its modern use as an imprecise yet reliable and convenient standard. It is often claimed that the term originally referred to a law that limited the maximum thickness of a stick with which it was permissible for a man to beat his wife, but this has been discredited. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thumb Jul 01 09, 10:56 PM

zbeckabee

A rule of thumb is an easy-to-remember guideline that isn't necessarily a hard-and-fast rule or scientific formula but it's more than just a dumb guess. For centuries rule of thumb has been used as an estimated measurement by many craftsmen including carpenters, brewers, and tailors. The term referred generally to the length of the thumb from the joint to the tip, approximately an inch. http://desktoppub.about.com/library/glossary/bldef-ruleofthumb.htm Jul 02 09, 2:33 AM